This has been a very emotional month for me and Sidekick, and we've had a lot going on. There's been so much happening that I'm barely keeping it together. Here's a quick synopsis of the emotional roller coaster I feel like I've been riding:
1. Sidekick graduated from PreK, and that's hard for me.
2. Grandma came in town for a week.
3. Sidekick had an early 5th birthday party (his birthday is next month). Since most of his PreK/daycare friends left school to attend summer camps right after graduation, I wanted one last hurrah with these kids he's known his entire life.
4. Sidekick got his front tooth pulled because he fell last fall, it turned brown, and started getting infected.
5. I went out of town for work for three days and for the first time ever, I had a babysitter take care of Sidekick since my mom was unavailable.
6. Sidekick's last day of school/daycare is today and the thought of it is really sad.
7. We leave tomorrow to visit my Mom for a week or so.
8. When we get back, Sidekick will start summer camp at his elementary school and a month later, he will start kindergarten.
Phew! It probably doesn't sound like a lot to most people, but to me, it's chaos in our very simple, calm life that we typically have.
I'm still so on the fence about him going to kindergarten. He's a very smart boy, and I've been told by the person who did his four year old screening at the school district and the director and teachers at Prek/daycare, that he's ready. But he's young... so young and I see that when he's around the older kids. He will be one of (if not THE) youngest in his kindergarten class. He just doesn't have the maturity yet, but I have no Plan B for him if he doesn't go. I don't know what I would do with him because he already knows so much more than he needs to know going to kindergarten, so he would be so bored if I held him back. If he wasn't so smart, this wouldn't be keeping me awake a night. Haha. So I worry, and truthfully, I've worried since I finally got pregnant. Being in the education field, I know a lot... maybe too much.
So I'm hoping going on vacation for a week will allow us to reset and that Sidekick grows at least six months maturity-wise during this time. Haha. But once we get back, all the newness begins. It's like our life is starting over like it did when I took him to daycare the very first time. I'm trusting people I don't know to love my son and take good care of him. After four short weeks, I'll do it all over again when he starts kindergarten, and together we will navigate this new chapter together.
Change... it can be so good, but it can be so hard. As Sidekick keeps telling me, he's "happy sad" about everything that is happening to him. Wise little boy because I, too, am happy sad.
